(l to r) Congressman Peter Roskam, Heartland Association Executive Jim Haisler and IAR GAD Conor Brown.

On Tuesday, U.S. Congressman Peter Roskam (R-IL) met with Illinois REALTORS® from his district at the Barrington Village Hall to discuss the implications of tax issues, patent trolling and government sponsored enterprises for real estate.

Roskam, who represents Illinoisans in the Sixth District, serves on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee where he strives to ferret out waste, fraud and abuse and reform the tax code to work better for business owners such as IAR members. REALTOR® and Illinois Federal Political Coordinator (FPC) Pat Callan of Wheaton helped run the meeting with Roskam’s constituents.

Pat Callan

Callan, the 2009 IAR President, and Roskam discussed key tax policy issues, including 1031 exchanges and the tax treatment of forgiven debt due to distressed sales. The Congressman shared our concerns that eliminating the deferral of tax on the gain in 1031 transactions could have negative implications in the commercial market. Additionally, he agrees with our position that taxing a person on income that is never realized simply doesn’t make sense. He’s shown his support by co-sponsoring HR 1002 – the Mortgage Forgiveness Tax Relief Act. This would extend the provision in the tax code that allows property owners who sold on a distressed sale to exclude the forgiven debt without having to declare it as income on their tax returns.

In response to a discussion about patent trolls led by Callan, Roskam said he was surprised at the level of negative impact on the real estate industry. Roskam supports finding a solution.